Labour MP Kim Leadbeater introduced the debate on her assisted dying bill on Friday (Alamy)

3 min read20 June

MPs debated and voted for a second time on a bill which could legalise assisted dying for terminally ill people. The results of the vote on Friday were 314 votes in favour and 291 against, passing by only 23 votes.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater introduced the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill as a private member’s bill last autumn. 

The bill already cleared its second reading in November, with MPs voting 330 in favour and 275 against – a previous majority of 55.

Leadbeater’s bill will now continue to the House of Lords for further scrutiny.

While peers will debate the legislation and will probably propose changes of their own, they are very unlikely to stop it from ultimately becoming law.

Introducing the debate today, Leadbeater said: “I’ve been pleased to work with members on all sides of the debate to ensure that this legislation is something that Parliament can be proud of, a cogent, workable bill that has one simple thread running through it, the need to correct the profound injustices of the status quo and to offer a compassionate and safe choice to terminally ill people who want to make it.”

Speaking in opposition to the bill, Conservative MP James Cleverly said it would create a “fundamental change in the relationship between medical professionals and those they serve”.

“This is an important debate,” he continued.

“It has stimulated an important conversation, and it is a conversation that demands our full attention. But I do not believe this bill is ready to go to the other place.

“And it is interesting that there are both proponents and opponents of this bill who are hoping the Lords will make significant changes to the bill. And that should set off alarm bells, surely.”

Vicky Foxcroft, former government whip who resigned on Thursday in protest against the government’s proposed cuts to disability benefits, made her first speech since the general election in the debate. She was previously shadow disabilities minister when Labour were in opposition.

“I don’t claim that every disabled person opposes assisted dying, but I do claim that the vast majority of disabled people and their organizations oppose it,” she said.

“Disabled people voices matter in this debate. And yet, as I’ve watched the bill progress, the absence of disabled people’s voices has been astonishing.”

If it eventually passes into law, the bill would make it legal for terminally ill adults with fewer than six months to live to access medical assistance to end their lives.

Leadbeater had herself said she was “confident” it would pass today’s vote, despite some MPs changing their vote from supporting it to opposing it.